Families are pulling children out of school weeks before the academic year ends, leases are being broken, household items are put up for sale and mortgage payments are turning into mounting debts, as about 300 Arab media professionals in the US face an increasingly uncertain future.
These journalists were employed by the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), a US government-funded Arabic-language broadcaster that runs Alhurra TV, Radio Sawa and five other digital platforms aimed at audiences across the Middle East and North Africa.
On April 11, MBN dismissed about 90 per cent of its workforce, retaining only 30 employees now operating a digital-only version of its services. The mass lay-offs followed a US Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) freeze on congressionally approved grants to MBN's parent agency, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM). The freeze affected funds already earmarked through September this year.
For the Arab journalists, losing their jobs means many have lost their legal right to be in the US. Sources told The National that about 60 people are still on temporary work visas, while at least 25 are now at risk of being deported.
Others, even those with work permits, permanent residency or US citizenship are caught in a legal and financial grey zone, as no employees have received severance packages to date.
“It is very chaotic and very complicated. We are left with nothing," said one journalist who had been laid off.
With headquarters in Springfield, Virginia, and an annual budget of $106.6 million, MBN was established after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 as part of a public diplomacy initiative to reflect the American narrative to Arabic-speaking audiences. The organisation hired journalists and relocated them to the US, helping it to reach an estimated 33.5 million people each week.
Who takes the blame?
A group of former staff is currently pursuing legal action, pressing for severance payments and clarity on their employment terms.
One journalist who began her career with Alhurra in 2004 said dozens of her colleagues and their families are preparing to return to the Middle East, "but we are determined to get our rights and are seeking to file a lawsuit".
While several former employees blame MBN leadership for the lack of support or severance, the company says its hands are tied.
Jeffrey Gedmin, president and chief executive of MBN, told The National that the agency is being deprived of funds that had already been approved.
"Doge does not speak with us. Leadership at our parent agency, USAGM, refuses to engage with us," Mr Gedmin said. "They are withholding congressionally approved funds. The people in charge decline to meet or speak with us. Our only recourse is the US courts."
He was appointed in October 2024, shortly after MBN laid off 160 employees following a 20 per cent budget cut mandated by Congress. At the time, the network also announced a shift to digital-focused output and reduced physical infrastructure.
Asked about accusations from former staff, Mr Gedmin said the company "urgently needed congressionally approved funding to provide severance".
"We are pleading our case in court," he added. "With a small staff and very limited financial resources, we’re doing what we can. Our employees have done everything right. There’s no reason for this. USAGM owes us the funding that would allow us to assist them, including those with humanitarian or legal needs."
Visa issues
For the hundreds of Arab journalists who relocated to the US to join MBN, it was a chance at a more stable life, far from the uncertainty and conflict that defines much of the region they left behind. Most arrived on J1 visas tied directly to their employment and had expected to begin the process of applying for a permanent residency green card and, eventually, US citizenship. But the outlook has changed drastically. Without a new sponsor, some will have to leave.
“We’re split into groups,” a former employee said. “Some have citizenship or green cards and are staying to look for new jobs. Others have work permits that allow them to remain legally in the US for a few years. But there are people who have 30 days from their termination date in April to leave the country.”
Some who had already applied for green cards now find themselves trapped in a heavy backlog. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has reported increased delays in processing due to a rise in application volumes, pandemic-related closures and staffing shortages.
“Going back to the Middle East is on the table for me,” said one former MBN employee who arrived in 2021 and expected to obtain a green card within a year, but has been waiting for three. “But I still want to look for alternatives here first. It’s a tough job market now, especially for Arabs.”
The wider US job market, particularly for those working in jobs connected to the government, is also under pressure. Since January, Doge, led by Elon Musk, has led an aggressive campaign to reduce the federal workforce as part of a broader effort to shrink government operations. Tens of thousands of jobs have been lost and critical agencies have seen severe cuts.
Press freedom concerns
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the cuts at MBN, calling it a “betrayal of the US’ historical commitment to press freedom". CPJ’s chief global affairs officer Gypsy Guillen Kaiser told The National the dismantling of MBN will leave millions without access to reliable news.
The organisation also warned of the personal risk some laid-off journalists now face. “We are aware of cases in which journalists with visas tied to their employment at USAGM outlets could be deported to countries where they face surveillance, prosecution or possible imprisonment," it said.
CPJ said it is working with USAGM and other affiliates to ensure that US authorities are aware of the urgent humanitarian and legal risks connected to the decision.
Future uncertain despite fund ruling
The MBN case has now entered a legal stand-off. On April 23, a US federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore funding to MBN, but some of the laid-off journalists told The National it remains unclear whether USAGM will actually release the money. The judge's order also covers Voice of America and Radio Free Asia.
Despite the turmoil, MBN will continue to operate a minimal digital service until the end of May, Mr Gedmin said, in the hopes that the frozen funds will be released, allowing the organisation to resume operations and address the fallout. But with time running out, there is growing uncertainty over whether the ruling will be enforced.
For now, the future of MBN hangs in the balance, and the journalists once given the task of reporting on instability in the Arab world are now living through it in the US.
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SERIE A FIXTURES
Saturday Benevento v Atalanta (2pm), Genoa v Bologna (5pm), AC Milan v Torino (7.45pm)
Sunday Roma v Inter Milan (3.30pm), Udinese v Napoli, Hellas Verona v Crotone, Parma v Lazio (2pm), Fiorentina v Cagliari (9pm), Juventus v Sassuolo (11.45pm)
Monday Spezia v Sampdoria (11.45pm)
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The design
The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.
The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.
The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.
A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.
Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.
Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.
Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.
From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.
Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019.
Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.
Company%20profile
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WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES
September 30
South Africa v Australia
Argentina v New Zealand
October 7
South Africa v New Zealand
Argentina v Australia
UAE squad
Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Emily Thomas, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Katie Thompson, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Michelle Botha, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Sashikala Silva, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper) Udeni Kuruppuarachchige, Vaishnave Mahesh.
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – First ODI
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
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Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
Barcelona 3
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The biog
Name: Mohammed Imtiaz
From: Gujranwala, Pakistan
Arrived in the UAE: 1976
Favourite clothes to make: Suit
Cost of a hand-made suit: From Dh550
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Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts
Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.
The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.
Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.
More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.
The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.
Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:
November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.
December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.
July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.
May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.
New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.
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Third-place-play-off: Portugal v Mexico, 4pm on Sunday
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The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh1,470,000 (est)
Engine 6.9-litre twin-turbo W12
Gearbox eight-speed automatic
Power 626bhp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 900Nm @ 1,350rpm
Fuel economy, combined 14.0L / 100km
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Rating: 2/5
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Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
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